Waabishkigaabo studied Political Studies at the University of Manitoba and represented Indigenous students as the Indigenous rep on the Student Union. From University he was elected to multiple youth representative positions at Grand Council Treaty #3, Ontario First Nation Young Peoples’ Council, and AFN National Youth Council. Holding multiple portfolios but focused primarily on mental health, social policy, and health policy.

Waabishkigaabo utilizes his experience in low context and high context culture relationship building to help build bridges between Canadian organizations and First Nations’ communities and people.

Connor “Little Thunder Spirit” Lafortune is a second-year student of the Indigenous Studies program with a double major in Law and Justice as well as Race and Gender Studies. He is the Male Traditional Coordinator and Vice-President on the Indigenous Student Circle at Laurentian University. He occupies various roles on boards in Sudbury Ontario as both a Francophone and Indigenous person. He is currently working for the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation to create Life Promotion Toolkits for Indigenous peoples. Since high school, Connor has been a youth facilitator for La Fédération de la Jeunesse Franco-Ontarienne, where he runs workshops, activities, and speaks on panels for Franco-Ontarian high school students. In high-school, Connor sat on the First Nation, Métis, and Inuit council for his school board, where he still sits as a community member and had acquired an internship on his First Nation working alongside O’gema and council. Throughout his post-secondary career, he was able to participate in various Indigenous symposiums, panels, and policy paper writing sessions that aim to give a voice to Indigenous post-secondary students.

In the future, Connor aspires to attend Law School in Moncton, travel to Northern First Nations during his year of articling, and thereafter return to his First Nation to open his own Law practice.

Maleesha is currently completing her degree in Global Health, specializing in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at York University. She studies the social determinants of health and understandings of the broader influences that shape one’s health. Maleesha is passionate about mental health and hopes to work in further strengthening the connection in fostering better mental health support and awareness amongst youth and families of various backgrounds such as immigrant, refugee, diaspora, and racialized individuals. With lived experience of challenging mental health issues herself and her brother who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, Maleesha sees the importance of better connection in mental health services and cultural understanding on creating healthier societies.

Katarina Gligorijevic (she/her) is a Research Associate at YouthREX, where she supports knowledge translation, as well as research and evaluation projects. She is committed to using data to drive social change, and has worked to advocate for cultural and youth-friendly urban spaces. Katarina studied Sociology at McGill, and went on to obtain a Master of Arts in Human Geography from the University of Toronto.

Chantal Phillips is a medical student at the University of Toronto. Her research and advocacy interests include addressing oppression, with a specific focus on harm reduction and anti-Black racism in academic, political, and health-based contexts. She is currently working as a research assistant for YouthREX and project manager of the Black COVID Resilience Health Promotion Project with Black Health Alliance.